I’m considering an USAMO to sync Digitakt to Ableton. I also have Digitone slaved to the Digitakt.
Does anyone have experience with the following setup Ableton > USAMO > Digitakt > Digitone
Is the single output of USAMO stable enough to clock both Digitakt and Digitone in a serial connection? Currently my DT drifts by 5BPM whem slaved to my DAW over USB, after a recent WIN update…
Any feedback is much appreciated!
I’ve used my Usamo with Logic 9 and with OT, AR, and A4 with excellent results.
The bpm will alter between +/- .1 which is unnoticeable to me. Even on the OT.
That said I think your setup should fine except you can only hook up 1 unit at a time. I don’t know why but there is a very noticeable delay in daisy chain. Far worse than normal.
FYI
Rytm via Overbridge does the same thing if you slave your other gear via the midi out from Rytm
Sold my Erm Multiclock when I realised
Thanks! If BPM drifts by ± 0.1 that is fine, as currently my BPM drifts by ± 5 bpm after I updated my OS. I guess USB MIDI is being treated with even lower priority than before.
I can compensate for the latency by ear sync with three metronomes (DAW + DT + DN).
Can you please elaborate on the delay issues?
If DN is slaved to DT via MIDI cable and DT is slaved to LIVE via Usamo, would the DN still drift by more than ± 0.1 BPM?
All i need is BPM clock to be stable not slowing down and speeding up as this puts my beats before and after the grid very noticeably and I can hear the phasing.
Thanks! Clock syncing with Overbridge is indeed a solution but my computer is old and Overbridge audio latency is huge. Is it possible to use Overbridge only for MIDI clock sync and still route the audio via TRS cables into an audio interface? As far as I know this is not possible in latest Overbridge versions.
From my experience the delay was so much that the “daisy-ed” unit wouldn’t even change patterns in time.
If you go to the USAMO muffwiggler page the creator answers lots of questions and he specifically states the latency/drift of “daisy-ed” units is totally unreliable.
I’m not sure I’ll try when I get home
I had this problem until I realised it was a USB issue for me anyway. I was using a virus ti over USB and Overbridge
The TI USB was causing huge issues seemed to be fighting Overbridge for the clock. Went to midi and audio only on Virus and clocks rock solid now.
I’ve tried Overbridge once more and it solved my MIDI sync problems. Earlier versions I’ve tried were crashy and clicky. I guess they’ve improved audio drivers.
Anyway my DT and DN are now connected via USB with OB and sparing 4 ins on my interface. I’m happy I’ve solved MIDI sync issues, it’s really tight I’ve done some tests and all my hits land straight on the grid.
I’m not too concerned about audio latency as I’m already running a high amount of latency via my audio interface due to old computer and USB rather than Thunderbolt.
Hope OB sync stays stable I’ll be testing, it’s great I don’t have to buy MIDI sync boxes such as Usamo or ERM for now…
What do you mean by daisy-ed? If you use the USAMO to sync one sequencer, and use midi tru to the next sequencer?
Usamo works ace with logic pro x and midi clock slaved from the rytm to a4 and OT (+going ouf the OT into korg volca). You even can put a midi splitter by kenton or erics synths in between, so no need to slave
Okay after some testing with Overbridge sync is super tight especially for drums right on the grid BUT after 100 or more bars my DT and DN lose sync to the DAW. It’s not the end of the world as I can print to DAW in Ableton clips.
What I can’t do is jam endlessly and record or go and perform live with OB for sync… Has anyone got the same issues losing sync after a while? Any solutions? Tried plugging directly in the laptop USB ports both DT and DN and again they lose sync after a while.
Is ERM or Usamo the only solution to live jamming in a hybrid setup?
Have you tried manually syncing the machines? as in, just set the same BPM values to each and hit start on the first downbeat, using the left and right arrows for nudging them into sync
Blasphemy, I know, but that’s how I sync my stuff to ableton
Yes. I was being a little silly with the term.
I was only able to get tight sync with a single slaved machine. If I tried to run a second using the “thru” midi jack from the first to the second machine, sync was way off.
I only use the Usamo when I record into Logic so it’s not even setup right now for me to check but I know for a fact the creator of the unit (on muff wiggler) said you need one Usamo per midi synced device.
I think you have misunderstood something. I found a thread on Muff, and the Expert Sleepers guy basically said it was fine. But on some devices that process the midi before sending it out it could be a problem.
Not trying to be a jerk. 
But in these days it is so easy for someone to remember what you wrote, and think that Usamo to midi through never works.
I have connected my Usamo to Force midi in, and send midi out to a midi patchbay distributing the clock from Force to my other gear. I have always had good luck in sending midi clock out of a device, instead of using midi through.
Added a quote from the muff thread.
" Quote:
Also is it bad to daisy chain devices for midi clock?
In general that should be fine, using MIDI Thru. Any device that actually processes the MIDI is suspect unless tested and shown to not introduce timing issues."
No offense taken. I went and found the thread I was talking about here:
https://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=127096
It’s about halfway down the page where “os” mentions
“ if you need more ports you just buy more USAMOs.
A splitter or thru box would not be a good idea. If you want tight timing, you need a dedicated port per device“
It maybe overkill but I want as tight of clock as possible. Usamo claims to deliver “sample accurate” timing and all I can say is it seems tighter than the standard Logic X clock (via 5pin din from my RME Fireface).
The +- .1 drift is completely unnoticeable to me when using anything including the OT.
I mention that specifically due to using samples vs synthesis and I once owned a Boss RC50 looper that also drifted +- .1 when slaved and it was very very noticeable (old warped record sound).
From a strictly non-scientific standpoint, I wonder if the “drifting” is just Elektron boxes’ way of processing the super tight clock as I’ve seen this happen (possibly less often though) when syncing two Elektrons standalone (no computer).
In regards to slaving the second box, I found it unusable for me as the second unit was way behind, however, I never tested the consistency of the clock so it’s possible some delay compensation could help, but I’m not sure how you could achieve that as you would have to delay the feed to the first box too right?
Anyway, all I can attest to is the Usamo can be a pain to setup, but once it is, it provides me excellent sync with my DAW for one synth/sampler/whatever at a time.
For me using Usamo in logic pro x with 3 machines in a row, syncing works fine. The trouble starts when adding fx / vst to the audio channels. But then you just have to adjust the offset of the timing. Another story is, when using 1 usamo to send midi notes to 3 or 4 synths
The reason Os has discouraged people from using THRU is that if you are sending more than clock down a cable (say OT MIDI CC LFO + Clock to Rytm) it’ll disturb the clock.
However the way to do it is:
DAW>USAMO>MIDI THRU BOX>devices
That way the only message that any machine receives is clock, and they all receive the clock at the exact time.
I tested my sync the other day. If recorded 32 bar of my tr8s bass drum and played it back together with my synced tr8s I got some minor phasing only. But this was monitoring through my mixer. So I didn’t have to think about latency going in to my interface.
When managing my sync getting the usamo helped. But getting a mixer was also very helpful as it was easier to combine recorded audio and live stuff monitored through my mixer. But I never had significant sync issues anyway.
yes thats what i do… I use a free plugin from melda -M utility to correct the latency… perfect sync everytime